Hi guys, I haven't posted in a few months, but I'm still on the site reading a lot.
I just wanted to state a few things about the Clifton dog bite (30 year) "study" & dogsbite.org. Neither should be used to draw conclusions on whether or not specific breeds should live, die or be confiscated. There are numerous rebuttals to "facts" on the website, and the so called report that was published by Clifton. It's bad science and it’s a slap in the face to real scientists that put forth hard work and dedicated man hours into actual research. Regardless of anyone's feelings about any breed of dog, please don't take anything from Colleen Lynn (dogsbite.org) or Merritt Clifton (Clifton Report)as real research backed up by hard facts. Neither the website nor the "study" offer hard facts backed up by legitimate ground truthing. A google search will lead to hundreds of rebuttals that actually post data on how facts on the website and facts in the Clifton report are, at best, flawed and at worst a blatant misuse of data to reach the conclusion the author wanted to reach. Even the CDC disputes said “research”. I work for a true science-based organization and nothing is more aggravating than seeing rubbish published in the name of science. It gives all science a bad name.
The only true, long term study on breed & dog bites was compiled by the CDC between the years of 1979 & 1998. The CDC published the report and later found that people like Ms. Lynn on dogsbite.org misconstrued the findings & ignored the CDC's own conclusion by claiming the report states that pit bulls have a higher propensity to bite, even though the published report specifically stated it was the CDC’s conclusion through their research in putting the report together, that breed is not a factor in aggression and it is their belief that BSL does nothing to prevent dog attacks. The CDC even released a post-report statement about the fact that so many people claimed the report showed the exact opposite of what the CDC concluded from their own report.
Every person has the right to choose what pet is the best for them, but when people's opinions fuel hate that turns into mass death sentences, torture, and general lack of empathy for a living being, and those opinions are not based on facts but on "I saw it on the news" ideology, then we all have a problem. The media is biased, several respected organizations have kept track of media reports of dog bites/attacks and the examples they've published are mind blowing on how egregious it is. It is something that effects everyone because it’s a red herring. It gets people to focus on breed and breed specific legislation (which is costing millions of taxpayer dollars and failing miserably on a wide scale) and ignoring the fact that we need real research into how to effectively educate the public about how to prevent dog bites, for both dog owners and non-owners. As well as laws that force people to be a responsible dog owner so said dog will not become a burden on society. (On a different subject, the amount of trust the public puts in the media to inform them about world & local events and tell them the truth is horribly scary for the future of our world. There's been plenty of published research into the media and the "accurate" reporting they do and it's out there for people to find.)
The more people admit to hating or being scared of specific breeds, the more politicians choose to get involved to get votes, the more politicians get involved, the more people in the general public who otherwise didn’t care or weren’t buying into it start to believe there really is something to be feared and the more people that fear a particular breed of dog, the more irresponsible people are drawn to that breed. The more irresponsible people are drawn to that breed, the more irresponsible owners there are of said breed. The more irresponsible owners there are, the more populous that breed becomes because irresponsible owners are more likely to breed indiscriminately and to allow their dogs to wander frequently. Also, the more irresponsible owners there are, the more untrained, unsocialized dogs there are in the population. The more irresponsible owners there are also contributes greatly to the number of stray dogs running around since irresponsible owners don’t care about their responsibilities to the dog when they become tired of it or don’t want it any longer, for whatever reason. Combine the high stray count with a high possibility of fear from humans that the strays will encounter and you have a higher number of mistreatment of these dogs by the humans that encounter them because people in fear many times react negatively out of fear for their safety, throwing rocks, screaming at, kicking at stray dogs to get them to go away. This can lead to a lot of strays that are wary, fearful or aggressive towards all humans. It’s a vicious cycle. The amount of pit bulls (more accurately-the amount of dogs that look like pit bulls but who are really who knows what) in shelters that are euthanized each year is atrocious because there are just so, so, so many of them compared to other breeds because of the way we, as a culture, have demoted them to unworthy status and left them to mostly irresponsible owners. Not to mention the very real data that shows when a high percentage of a population hate/mistrust anything (be it a particular race or religious sect of humans, a plant, a type of animal or a breed of dog) the more people think they are justified in mistreating/abusing/killing/torturing object of said hate and the more people are willing to turn a blind eye to other peoples mistreatment of said object. THAT’s a slippery road to go down, as history has shown us.
I applaud responsible, loving owners of any bull breed. I lost a dog earlier in the year that was very dear to my heart. She wasn’t a pit bull but had a slight block head. Looked nothing like a pit bull, but I had at least 3 specific instances of people being downright mean and rude to me and her because they thought she was ‘pit’ and judged her in a split second based on looks and felt the need to tell me all about how one day my dog will turn on someone and kill them, or that ‘the only good pit is a dead pit’ ‘don’t ever let that pit loose around here or you won’t ever her find’. She was dna tested. Came back Aus. Cattle Dog/Border Collie. 50/50 split. (she looked pure cattle dog, so her DNA test makes sense). She was even a Canine Good Citizen. Didn’t matter, the only thing that mattered to these people was that she looked like a pit to them. Her perfect behavior meant zilch. The sad thing is, as I stated, she looked nothing like a pit so I had far less people judging me or my dog than the average pit owner who has a pit that looks like a pit. I truly feel bad for what real bull breed owners go through on a regular basis from a very bias public that ignores the true problem of dog bites and focuses on something that does nothing to solve the issue and feels it's their duty to spread the hate.
They have extreme energy and running needs, and they need a job to replace the one that is no longer available for them. You do need a large yard and to throw balls and frisbees for them, or take them jogging. And you can't be upset if they are running through your house like horses and jumping over all the furniture 
).
